The present invention relates to a child-resistant package of the type adapted to receive a blister card, and more particularly, to a child-resistant package which is also easy for adults with limited dexterity to open.
There is a continuing problem in the pharmaceutical industry of providing containers which are both child resistant as well as openable by adults having limited dexterity. Each year, numerous children are injured by the ingestion of pills, tablets and capsules of pharmaceutical products which are not packaged sufficiently to prevent opening by a child.
Many pharmaceutical products, such as pills, tablets, capsules, syringes and other articles, are packaged in blister packs which inhibit contamination and product tampering while providing easy access. Typically, one or more articles are sandwiched between a layer of transparent, translucent, opaque or colored plastic in the form of an outwardly extending cavity or blister, and a second, rupturable or puncturable layer. Force applied to the blister in the plastic layer is transmitted to the article, which ruptures or punctures the puncturable layer for removal of the article by the user. Alternatively, the second layer can be torn off, pulled back, peeled off, or bent and torn off for removal. Although this type of packaging is convenient and is in widespread use, unless this type of packaging is modified to be child proof, the products inside the blister pack are easily accessed by children.
One solution to this problem which has been proposed is to provide a blister pack having several layers of material over the transparent or translucent blister side of the package. The use of several layers of material strengthens the rupturable side of the blister card, making it very difficult or impossible to rupture by merely applying force on the article to force it through the layers of material. Instead, one or more layers must be peeled from the blister portion of the pack leaving a single rupturable layer of material over the blister compartment to be accessed. This single layer is then rupturable by force applied through the blister on the article to be removed. While this provides sufficient protection of the article to prevent access by young children, it often poses a problem for adults lacking the required manual dexterity to remove the separable layers and open the desired blister compartment.
Another known device provides a cover arrangement which is slidably disposed over a tray which contains a blister pack. A resiliently mounted button protrudes through an aperture in the cover and must be pressed downwardly to a position inside the cover at the same time as the user applies force on the tray in order to slide the tray outwardly from the cover and access the blister package. However, this can prove difficult for adult individuals lacking good manual dexterity.